Nilesat back in Beirut?

Back in early April Cairo-based Nilesat said it was immediately pulling out of the Lebanon and would cancel any uplinking satellite services to its satellite from Beirut’s teleport. A report May 26th out of Beirut (and on the ‘banned’ al-Manar TV channel) and quoting Lebanon’s Information Minister, Ramzi Jreij, said that an Egyptian technical team from Nilesat would be visiting the country “to discuss technical and legal issues in order to reach a consensual solution to the subject relevant to reopening Jouret el-Ballout teleport.”

Jreij had returned to Lebanon from Cairo on May 26th where he met with Nilesat’s Board Chairman, Major General Ahmed Anis, and meetings with Arab Information Ministers.

The April 6th closing of the Beirut teleport resulted in al-Manar, a controversial Hezbollah channel, losing its access to Nilesat’s viewers across much of the MENA region. Nilesat at the time said the channel had violated its contract by airing programmes promoting sectarian divisions.

Al-Manar had said the decision was unjust and a blatant violation of freedom of opinion and freedom of expression.

Coincidentally, the decision to bar the channel came just ahead of a visit by Saudi Arabia’s King Salman to Cairo.